Student Spotlight

Official CAPA Blogger Summer 2015: Rashad Williams – Shanghai

Rashad Williams

Junior Rashad Williams is sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Strategic Communications and Political Science major with a concentration in Pre-Law at Hampton University, he is studying abroad in China this summer.

HU Students Work to Feed Residents of Food Desert

The Hampton University Department of Marine and
Environmental Science is bringing fresh foods to downtown Newport
News. The department in partnership with the Greater Southeast
Development Corporation (GSDC) and Virginia Tech have developed an
aquaponic system to produce fresh foods. The project is funded by a
$75,000 grant the department received from Virginia Sea Grant.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food
deserts as urban neighborhoods and rural towns that lack access to
fresh fruits and vegetables in the community. The only grocery store
in downtown Newport News closed during the summer of 2014, hence the
communities' Federal designation as a food desert.

"The objective of the program was to develop and
conduct programming to enhance sustainable seafood supplies, said Dr.
Deidre M. Gibson, Associate Professor and Chair of Department of
Marine and Environmental Science. "As well as outreach and
educational programming integrating: bay education; safe and
sustainable seafood through aquaculture and fisheries; seafood
quality, safety, post-harvest handling, and marketing."

The program operated in three phases: 1.Education and
training for students in aquaculture and seafood products. 2.
Communication and outreach training. Students were trained in science
communication best practices, including aquarium audiences, K-12
audiences, and general public audiences. 3. Ambassador outreach.

For three weeks the student ambassadors led activities and
programs at the Moton Community House in downtown Newport News to
educate the public about sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. The
ambassadors trained of community members in how to produce their own
fish and fresh plants through this sustainable system that uses the
wastes of fish species to cultivate the growth of plants as well as
produce fresh meat products thus eliminating the food
desert.

"The two biggest products that came out of this project
were helping educate the community and the student body having a
chance to engage and learn from the local community," said
Justin Schafier, senior marine and environmental Science major.
"It was a great opportunity for us to engage the larger Hampton
Roads community and help foster this relationship going forward to
maintain the aquaponic system."